ChatGPT can now lock your chats. What it protects, and what it doesn’t
On 20 October 2026, OpenAI announced Locked Chats in ChatGPT: you can protect a sensitive conversation with a four-digit PIN, or with Face ID or Touch ID on supported devices. The feature is coming to the Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu plans and is rolling out gradually. Locking protects against people who see your screen or device, but it is not end-to-end encryption and does not change how long the chat is retained.
What happened
According to TechCrunch, a locked chat moves to a dedicated “Locked Chats” section, kept separate from regular chat history, pinned conversations and search results. Unlike Temporary Chats, you can return to locked chats at any time. OpenAI gives the example of handing your device to someone to show them something in another chat.
With Memory enabled, Locked Chats has its own separate memory. New messages there don’t update regular Memory, so new information from locked chats doesn’t leak into regular chats. Locking doesn’t remove what ChatGPT remembered before the chat was locked, and it doesn’t change the “Improve the model for everyone” setting. Resetting the PIN permanently deletes all locked chats, files and other content protected by the previous PIN.
Locking isn’t available for temporary, archived and group chats, chats created from a shared link, chats with scheduled tasks and chats with meeting recordings. The feature is not available on ChatGPT for Healthcare.
What it means for you
- Locking protects against prying eyes, not leaks. It helps when you hand your laptop or phone to a colleague or show it to a client. It changes nothing about how OpenAI stores the data, so customer data and contracts still stay out of the chat unless your business has a clear rule.
- What was already remembered stays remembered. Locking doesn’t erase what ChatGPT remembered earlier. If you shared sensitive business data with it before, check what it remembers before you rely on locking.
- A forgotten PIN means lost chats. Resetting the PIN permanently deletes all locked chats and files. If a locked chat holds something important for your business, keep a copy outside ChatGPT too.
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Sources
- TechCrunch (Aisha Malik), 20 Oct 2026: ChatGPT now lets you lock your chats (in English)
The feature started rolling out on 20 October 2026 and may not be live for all users yet.